(Darl Zehr Photography)
The SUNY Cortland men's and women's ice hockey team open their 2017-18 campaigns with non-league road games on Friday, Oct. 27. The Red Dragon women play at Neumann University and the men play at Nazareth College. Both games start at 7 p.m.
Cortland's women, under second-year head coach Rick Filighera, have changed league affiliation this season. The Red Dragons have moved from the ECAC West to the newly-formed Northeast Women's Hockey League (NEWHL). Other members of the conference are also former ECAC West members - Buffalo State, Oswego, Potsdam, and four-time NCAA Division III champion Plattsburgh. The Red Dragons will play each of those schools four times during the season in conference play. The top four teams qualify for the NEWHL semifinals Feb. 24.
Three of Cortland's top four scorers return from last winter in sophomores Miranda Kolb (5 goals, 6 assists), Carly Weigold (5 goals, 2 assists) and Emily King (4 goals, 3 assists), along with four-goal scorer Kianna Gutenmann. Sophomore Rachael Farmer and junior Victoria Gibson combined to play 12 games in goal last season. Cortland will play twice this weekend at Neumann - a former ECAC West foe of the Red Dragons - before returning home to host Plattsburgh in games on Nov. 3 and 4.
The Cortland men, led by fourth-year head coach Joe Cardarelli, will follow up its road game at Nazareth with a home contest on Saturday at 7 p.m. versus Utica College. The Red Dragon open their State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) schedule on Friday, Nov. 3 at home versus Oswego.
Three of Cortland's top four scorers from last season are back in junior forward Mike Crowley (5 goals, 18 assists) and sophomore forwards Douglas Elgstrom (5 goals, 14 assists) and Stefano Alonzi (5 goals, 12 assists). Senior captain Dan Broderick enters the season with 74 career points (29 goals, 45 assists). Senior goalie Drew Weigman played in 22 games last season and has a career 3.94 GAA and .901 save percentage in 64 games as a Red Dragon.
